Ahh, this was one of my favorite chapters to read. Thank you so much everyone for reading my story! I'm really, really happy that people are giving me time to read my work :'D. Also, are there any DRRR Shizaya fanfiction writers out there? I'd love to give you a prompt if you are, because I've got a prompt that would make a nice story but I'm not much of a BL writer. Tell me if you're interested! Thank you and enjoy!
Izaya was sprinting back to the school, powered by annoyance. He had practically overturned Kururi's bedroom in search for her camera, but found nothing except for Mairu's magazines, which he secretly disposed of. He concluded that Kururi must have not searched thoroughly in her purse and hurried back to the courtyard before Mairu would give him an earache for abandoning her.
The streets were so loud with the honking of cars and the rumbling of people's voices meshing together all at once that he nearly did not hear his cell phone ringing.
He skidded to a stop, gritting his teeth. He had to stop himself by grabbing hold of a stop sign (the irony) and forcing himself to halt. He grabbed his cell phone, flipped it open, and held it against his cheek.
"What?" he said dangerously.
"IIIIIzaaaaayaaaa-kun!"
The voice made his blood freeze in his veins. At the sound of that all too familiar voice, Izaya could still feel that knife drive into his body. He tightened his grip on his cell phone.
"Yadogiri Jinnai," he said softly, rooted to the spot.
"It's been such a long time since we last had such an opportunity to talk to each other!" Yadogiri sang. Izaya clenched his teeth until even his jaw hurt. "Tell me; how have things been?"
"Why am I blessed with the chance to talk to you again, Yadogiri?" Izaya said dryly.
"Why are the Oriharas so stingy when it comes to conversation?" Yadogiri lamented. "Even your sisters weren't very talkative when I had the lovely opportunity to meet them!"
Izaya's eyes widened. He spun around in the spot as if to search for Yadogiri. "What are you talking about? Where are Kururi and Mairu?"
"Stop doing pirouettes like a dog chasing its tail," Yadogiri laughed. "You needn't threat. You can't see me, but I can see you very well."
"What have you done, Yadogiri?" Izaya demanded.
"You thought that you had me all dealt with after you sent the Awakusu-kai at me," Yadogiri chortled. "You thought you won the game. You thought you beat me!"
Izaya didn't reply. He breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down. "What have you done to Kururi and Mairu?"
"I'm not one to take defeat so willingly, Orihara," Yadogiri hissed. "I don't like to surrender."
"Shut the hell up about your stubborn pride," Izaya said swiftly. "Where are my sisters?"
"Tell me, Orihara," Yadogiri laughed. "How much do you really love your sisters?"
Izaya gripped his cell phone so tightly it nearly cracked in his grasp.
"I wonder, do you care about them at all? Orihara Izaya, the disgusting, selfish, heartless bastard who does nothing but destroy everything around him—"
"What have you done with them, Yadogiri?"
"—surely he would not care if my men tied them up and gagged them? Or that they kicked and punched their little bodies? One of them is shaped quite nicely; would onii-chan care if my men grew a little friendly toward her—?"
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?" Izaya snarled. He was shaking with fury, something that he had not felt in so many years.
"Do you pick favorites, Izaya-kun?" Yadogiri said harshly. "Do you favor a twin over the other? Well! Even if you do not, it is about time that you made a choice!"
"What do you mean?" Izaya hissed. He hated how much he acted like a human: how brash, how furious, how violent, and how predictable. It was so raw yet so uncontrollable.
"Oh, you can save a pretty girl, Iza-kun!" Yadogiri said. Izaya could hear him beaming on the other end and it boiled his blood. "The question is, who?"
And suddenly, without Yadogiri even telling him what he had in store for his sisters, Izaya's heart stopped pumping, and he suddenly became very, very cold.
Celty was flying.
Her motorcycle sped through the emptying streets, riding against the wind with ease. She could have easily been the wind; silent, fast, and powerful. The hour was late and the night was so ripe that even some of the city lights were dying out. She would have relished the quietness and peace, but now she could not.
There was no time to spare.
She could feel her cell phone ringing in her hand as she drove as fast as she could through the streets of Ikebukuro, but she did not bother to pick up. Whatever other jobs Shiki or anyone else needed had to wait. She couldn't believe she was placing Izaya Orihara first before everyone else in her list of things to accomplish, but there was something different in his voice when he called her at ten in the evening. She was so unused to it that she nearly did not recognize him when he called.
His voice was laced with fear.
Celty was not fond of Izaya Orihara at all, but she could never bring herself to leave anyone afraid and without help. She just couldn't.
Her motorcycle gave a loud whinny as she turned a sharp corner toward the Raira Academy where Izaya was to meet her. In the dim glow of the streetlight, she found the young informant rooted to the spot in front of an empty courtyard. The aroma of barbequed meat still hung delicately in the air like the smell of fresh water after rainfall. She skidded to a stop and parked her motorcycle by the curb. Izaya made no movement when she slid off her motorcycle and rushed to his side, typing on her PDA on the way.
[What do you need me for?]
She shoved her PDA in front of Izaya's face. Izaya stepped back instinctively, nearly tripping over his own feet. Celty immediately noticed the change of character in Izaya's face. There was no devilish spark in his eyes or a mischievous crooked smile on his lips.
"You came," Izaya said monotonously. He tilted his head slightly, his face still blank. "I almost thought that you wouldn't."
[Why wouldn't I?]
He smiled lightly. "That's my loyal courier." His smile immediately sapped away. Celty hurriedly typed on her PDA, shadows trailing her graceful fingers.
[You sounded urgent on the phone. What is the problem?]
"Celty-san, why don't you let me ask you a question?" Izaya suddenly spoke up. His eyes were sharp and dangerous like the knives he always played with, but his lips barely moved. "A hypothetical one, if you please—all I want is a literal answer."
Celty wanted to protest, but she lowered her PDA, allowing Izaya to continue on. He turned away from her and began pacing on the sidewalk, his gait shaky and swift.
"You like Shinra enough, don't you? And Shizu-chan? Perhaps you prefer one over the other, or perhaps one annoys you more than the other—that's human and that's life. Nevertheless, you still tolerate them a good amount…"
Celty grew warier and warier as Izaya's pace seemed more rigid and his voice more desperate. She tightened her fists, grasping at the shadows in her reach just in case—just in case—Izaya did something completely unpredictable, which Celty expected.
"You've heard these kinds of questions in high school, or even middle school, I'm sure," Yadogiri said pleasantly as Izaya craned his neck, trying to see Yadogiri's face through any building window. "You know the whole jazz: 'if you were to pick her or me, who would you pick?' Give or take a few details. Well, even though you've long graduated, I'm going to give you a little pop quiz, shall I?"
"Now, let's just say that Shinra is poisoned—don't jump to conclusions!" Izaya suddenly said when Celty lunged at him, not even bothering to type a fiery accusation on her PDA. Izaya dodged her, but did not whip out his flickblade in self defense. "Did I not say that this was all hypothetical? This story is only partially fictional."
"Ikebukuro is such a large place, isn't it? How long do you think it'll take to go from one end of Ikebukuro to the other? Forty-five minutes if you're lucky, right? Well, you've got a little prize waiting for you on the other end of Ikebukuro. And one on the far other end. Do you see where I'm going with this, Iza-kun?"
"There is only one cure in the entire world: this one antidote that he must take all of else he will be killed by the toxins." Celty suddenly realized that Izaya's voice was shaking. If she did not know his voice so well, she would not have noticed, but she could now hear the underlying anxiousness creeping underneath his words. "But Shizu-chan is poisoned too. The same poison, requiring the same cure. You only have one cure, though. Only one…"
"The one with the braids—Mairu is her name, isn't it?—is in the Shimizu warehouse down in south Ikebukuro. You know that place well; that was near the place your Awakusu-kai cornered me. She's on the very top floor, tied to a chair, with a gun straight at her temple. The moment the sun rises, we're blowing her brains out.
What about the nicely shaped one? That's Kururi, right? I don't really give a damn about names—in the end, they're both useless scum. She's all the way in north Ikebukuro, in that old parking lot next to that shopping mall. She's also tied up quite tightly with a gun at her head as well. Forty-five minute difference, Iza-kun. Do you see what I see? I see your precious sisters' blood and brains splattered on the cement."
"Who would you save, Celty-san?" Izaya had stopped pacing now; he stood as still as a statue with only a moving mouth. "Will you do what is expected of you and save who only you love and you need? Answer me, Celty san; do you save one of them for them, or for you?"
[Where are you going with this?] Celty typed on her PDA frantically. She was not used to seeing Izaya in such a state. If even Izaya was concerned, then the situation must have been dire.
"I'm letting you save one of them, Iza-kun. You can show up alone to the parking lot or the warehouse before sunrise, and I'll let you save that one little girl. But the moment I see your face, I'm sending a message to my boys on the other end of Ikebukuro, and they're going to shoot a bullet right through that poor, rejected twin's temple. I've got men surrounding the buildings and in the room, and all their cell phones set to speed dial the other end. You can't save them both, Iza-kun. You've got to choose only one.
"Oh! I nearly forgot! If I see someone else's face besides your ugly mug come to the rescue, both of their skulls will be shattered like a dropped porcelain bowl. Don't try to pull any heroic partnerships, because you'll only lose them both. Are you listening to me, Iza-kun? No matter what you try, by the time the sun rises, at least one person has to die."
"I told you the story was partially fictional. Indeed it is." His smile slid from his face and his eyes widened. "I'm afraid my time is running out. Although you may hate me and wish me to die every now and then, as does everyone, I ask you to spare me your time." He finally looked up to Celty. His eyes were not narrowed with mirth, but wide with anxiety and weakness. "You are strong and powerful enough to carry out my plan and I…have no one else to turn to."
When Celty typed on her PDA, even her fingers shook.
[What do you mean?]
"Let me ask you another question, Celty-san," Izaya said.
"Why are you doing this?" Izaya said, forcing his voice to be steady. His throat tightened and he could barely breathe. "Whether two girls live or die, what does that do for you? What does it matter to you?"
"It doesn't affect me at all," Yadogiri said triumphantly. "But you know, Izaya, I learned something from you. I adopted a very enjoyable hobby from you. Watching humans, manipulating their every move in their life, and watching them squirm.
"I just want to see you suffocate."
The connection broke, and all that came from the other end of the phone was a dull, seamless tone.
"Will you help me?"